What it is to Live Forever
by ZellaPrell
Summary: What if Bella was changed before she ever fell in love with Edward? What if he had to win her heart to convince her to stay? A story of life, death, a ring, and a choice. AU/M for lemons later on.
1. Seek

** Ohhhh, the ideas one gets while taking the PSAT...at least my ramblings finally turned into something nice. **

** Stephanie Meyer owns the universe.**

…**...**

No matter how many windows I opened, I couldn't get the smell of mothballs out of the house. The old Victorian was crowded with ancient wardrobes full of dusty coats and fading dresses that hadn't been touched in years. The winding, narrow hallways were dark and colored with prismatic dust, lit dimly by the light that filtered in through the filth-covered windows. Every floorboard creaked out a separate note of the house's worn-out song, punctuated every now and then by the sigh of the walls as the hourly bus barreled past towards the stop on the corner.

I had only been in the house once before, when my mother was in the process of leaving Charlie. Of course, that was back when my grandmother was still alive and San Francisco was a viable drop-off spot for the three-year-old me as my mother made frequent trips back and forth from Phoenix to Forks. I remember my one and only stay, a three-week-long affair during which Renee officially split from Charlie (elapsed time: 4 hours) and, as a result, set off for an impromptu European vacation (elapsed time: remaining 500 hours). The thing that I most remember about that time was the fact that my grandmother was almost never there. Of all the things I remember about that trip-playing in the attic, searching for the secret passageway that my mother had sworn existed (not true, apparently), playing dress-up among the seas of old clothing-none of them include my grandmother. Nana, as I called her, had been strangely absent that entire time, though I really hadn't found it strange before returning here again.

I'd returned to San Francisco with my mother following a call from Mr. Abrams, Nana's next door neighbor, saying that he hadn't seen Nana in almost a week. He had wanted to know if we had heard from her, to which my mother responded with a truthful "no". As soon as she hung up with Abrams, Renee dialed Nana's ancient telephone. When there was no answer, she jumped to the computer. Within minutes, we had plane tickets booked for early the next morning.

While we knew her death was coming, it was still a surprise when we arrived at Gallagher House, the name of Nana's Victorian in the heart of the Painted Lady district, to find her so peacefully tucked in her bed. It looked almost as if she had planned it. I've never been one for blood, gore, or death, but this was different. I wasn't particularly bothered by the image of Nana in her bed, mostly because she was so..._beautiful_, so wholly at peace, that seeing her there was more of an assurance that she was happier wherever she was than a reminder that she had left us forever.

And so began the collection. In the days following, Renee, a couple of friends she knew from high school that still lived in the area, and myself all began sorting through the eclectic mix of material goods that had accumulated over the more than seventy years Nana had lived in the first couple of days were the most productive, but as time went on, mom's friends had more important things to do and our workforce began to dwindle.

"Bella, honey," Renee had said to me on the fourth night, "Phil is coming up tomorrow to check in on us, and he thinks that what I really need is to get out of here for a little while." As much as I hated to admit it, seeing how much work needed to be done, I knew what she was talking about. While I barely knew Nana at all, Renee had always been especially close with her. They hadn't visited face-to-face in a few months, but every day when I'd get home from school, they were always talking on the phone, even though it meant Renee would have to yell into the receiver to ensure that Nana could hear. It _would _be nice to get out of the house for a while. I allowed myself to relax then, knowing that in just a little while I'd be surrounded by the incessant culture-shock that I'd been missing since leaving Phoenix...

And with that, she was gone. When I awoke the following morning, there was a note taped to the door of my makeshift bedroom which read only "Phil and I are going to LA for a couple of days. Food and money in the kitchen. Call when I get there 3". I wanted to scream in frustration. I'd been under the impression that I would be escaping back into the real world with them, not getting left behind in the enormous, dark, settling mass that was Gallagher House. I wanted to throw things, break things. I wanted to tear the original portrait of my great-grandfather off of the wall and throw it out the window. I wanted to tear the handmade lace curtains off of the rod and burn them. I wanted out. However, as counter-intuitive as it might seem, I went deeper in. Inexplicably, I climbed the two flights of stairs from the ground floor to where Nana's room had been and swung open the door. I did so more aggressively than I probably should have. The loud bang of the door hitting the wall made me feel like I was desecrating some holy temple. There was another shorter set of stairs in the back of the bedroom that led up to a small, odd sitting room perched between the two adjacent floors. Back when I had been here so long ago, the door to that sitting room had been the only one locked. When Renee and I had arrived to find Nana lifeless in her bed, it was the only door in the entire house that had been left open.

Throughout the long days that Renee and I had spent here, one thing dominated my thoughts. I really had no idea who my own grandmother was. I knew that she came from a well respected family in the Bay Area and married young, but that didn't last. She had moved to New York with her husband, but moved back into her childhood home when the marriage ended. She married again later in her life to Renee's father, but was met with his death just a couple of years after Renee was born. Since then...I didn't really have any idea. And even though I knew her life history, I still had no idea who she was as a person. All I wanted out of the in-between room was the beginning of an answer.  
>Itching with curiosity, I took the six steep steps two at a time. The regal looking mahogany door swung gently inwards to reveal a surprisingly tidy room containing just a highbacked chair and a writing desk. The walls of the tiny room were a powdered peach color and filled the room with a warm glow. I entered slowly, wanting almost to keep from disturbing the restful state of the room. I sat softly on the very edge of the embroidered chair, resting my hands on the dark plane of the desktop as if examining its smoothness. The desk was strangely bare, especially in contrast to the clutter which had consumed the rest of the house. There was one long drawer along the front of the desk, carved into an intricate scroll along the edges. I carefully ran my hands along the carving before gently gripping the handle and pulling. It opened much easier than I had anticipated.<p>

My heart was thrumming in my chest and my entire body buzzed with excitement. Perhaps here was the insight that might give me a real look at who Nana had actually been. A diary, a book of letters, anything. Anything could be in that drawer.

Anything...like a single, unaddressed envelope. My heart sank. The wealth of knowledge I'd been hoping for wasn't here. I sighed quietly as I lifted the envelope from the drawer. _Why not_, I thought. And I opened it.

_Dearest Alice, _

_The time has come. I know we have discussed this at length before, and that you are wholeheartedly against it. However, love, you must think. What would you do if presented with this opportunity? I think we both know the answer to that. _

_I have seen all that I care to see, and far beyond. Can you imagine what it is to live forever? I cannot, and neither can you. I know you put on the happy face for Jasper and the rest of your family, but you're as scared of forever as any mortal is and should be. We all are. Some just do a better job of hiding it._

_You may think that I'm taking the easy way out, that I am for some reason not worthy of this choice that I have so luckily been provided with. You are entirely right. I won the power to cheat death in an unfair fight, and I used it time and time again. Must I not pay the price? Of course. It is not a question of if, but instead where and when.I came to terms with that long ago, and the sooner you do the same, the better off you'll be._

_So here I go, dear Alice, off into that great unknown. I anticipate being made to pay my debts on the other side of death, but really, what's the difference between paying them for an eternity among the dead versus doing the same among the living?_

_The ring is in the back of the drawer. Please destroy it._

_All my love,_

_Artemis_

I stared for a long time at the neat script of theletter, utterly and completely confused by its content. Alice? Who was Alice? And living forever? And...Artemis? My grandmother's name was Adelle. I had never met an "Artemis" in my life. My mind twirled, searching for answers.I looked back to the very end of the letter- _"The ring is in the back of the drawer."_ My eyes flew to the seemingly empty bottom of the drawer. Curiously, I reached my hand back into the dark, recessed corners that I couldn't see. And then I found it: A small, simple wooden box, dull in color and finish but worn smooth with age. I couldn't resist lifting the lid off and setting it back on the table. Inside the box lay a slender silver band, not remarkable in any way. I picked it up and turned it over in my hands, immediately noticing the fact that it was significantly colder than anything else in the room. There were symbols that were barely discernible anymore etched into the surface of the band, and beside the fact that the lettering seemed to have worn off, the ring itself was in incredibly good condition. Even in the soft, pink-ish light, the silver surface gleamed. Really, despite its simplicity, it was beautiful.

I slipped it over my finger and felt a chill run down my spine. My mind began turning, thinking faster and faster with no particular subject in mind. I looked frantically around the room as my heartbeat picked up even faster. I was looking for something, but I didn't know what it was. Looking, looking, looking...

And suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Before I could move to answer it, I heard it squeak open.

"Bella?" someone called. Her voice sounded like music. "It's Alice. May I come up?"

…**...**

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>~Zell<strong>


	2. Burn

**Hey there again. You are out there, right? If you are, I'd really love to hear from you! I love reviews, just so ya know :)**

**SM owns Twilight and all its characters. I own a Tassimo machine. SM wins this round, but only by a little bit.**

**... **

EPOV-

I could hear Alice shuffling around nervously as she waited for Bella to open the bedroom door. Even from within the car three stories below, I could tell that the girl was clearly hysterical. I refused to go in with Alice, mostly because I was barely in the mood to deal with her bubbliness, let alone a complete stranger's hysterics over the coming events. Plus, I hadn't fed in a about a week, which, under normal circumstances wouldn't be too bad. However, San Francisco's population is significantly larger than that of Forks, and sitting in the middle of all those people had me aching with bloodlust.

Alice had suggested with sudden urgency last Thursday that she and I take a trip to visit Artemis. While I didn't have any real objection to seeing Artemis, I wasn't exactly keen on the long car ride with just my sister for company. She'd recently taken a very specific interest in my well-being, claiming that I needed to stop being so moody. Actually, the phrase she used sounded a lot more like "self-pitying asshole", but who really cares. Esme finally convinced me to go by reminding me that I hadn't actually gone to see Artemis in over a year, and with her so close-by, I really should feel bad about that.

And so, off I went, embarking on what I had anticipated to be a very long, painful twelve-hour drive, expecting a very long lecture on the merits of de-asshole-ifying myself. Instead, though, I was met with a confession that we weren't actually going to see Artemis, but instead, to see her granddaughter. I gave her a questioning look. Yes, I knew Artemis _had _a granddaughter, but never before had I taken any interest in her. Why start now?

"Edward, I've been seeing her a lot. A _lot _a lot. I...I think she's the one. For you, I mean. I guess, I've had these visions before, but they've always been of you and some faceless girl, missing an identity. At first I thought it was Tanya, but then that fell apart. And then two weeks ago, there's suddenly a face in all these pictures. I thought I was hallucinating during the first one, but when it happened a second time, and then a third, all with the same face that I recognized from Artemis's photo albums, I figured that maybe she really is the one. Coming here just seemed right."

"And in these visions," I'd asked her, "am I...happy?"

She shared with me then pictures of me laughing and smiling, dancing with a beautiful girl whose long auburn hair hung in glossy waves over her shoulders. Her smile was wide and full of life. It seemed too good to be true.

So here I was now, halfway-listening to Alice attempting to comfort my possible (?) future-life-partner and halfway-admonishing myself for thinking that such a thing was even possible.

_"Bella, I know it's a lot to take in...Bella, listen to me. Bella, please, you're going to hurt yourself. Just put the lamp down, I'm here to help you."_

I'd told Alice a million times since we arrived in San Francisco that Bella wasn't going to believe her. Hell, _no _sane person would believe her. Seriously, a pixie-looking girl shows up at your recently-deceased grandmother's house and tells you that that recently-deceased grandmother was actually one of the oldest recorded vampire on the books? That the woman named "Artemis" was not paying homage to the Greek goddess, but instead _was actually _the Greek goddess? That the ring she just put on is going to take her to hell and back , only so that she can endure an eternity of living like an extremely attractive, well-endowed animal? Yeah. We'll see how that one goes over.

I was one of the lucky few to actually have heard the story from Artemis herself. First, one must understand that there is no record of the first of our kind. All we know is who the second was-an Egyptian named Amun. Sometime around 2500 BC, Amun travelled north of the Mediterranean and changed three men-Marcus, Caius, and Aro, the latter of which stumbled across Artemis in 880 BC. Her beauty, intelligence, and skill with an arrow was legendary, and she had seduced her way to a position of influence within Greek society. When she met Aro, he could immediately tell that she was something special, and so he confided to her the story of the _Vampyre_. Artemis initially went along with it, assuming it was some sort of flirtatious joke, but then Aro asked her to join him in half-death. As could be expected, she was hesitant believe this handsome, well-spoken man who told her fantastic stories of infinite life, strength, power. Still, he was persistent. He showed her how easily he could crush an iron bar, how fast he was when he ran without inhibition. He showed her that he was _designed _to seduce humans, if only to gain an easier meal. Artemis began to believe him, but was still unwilling to forfeit her humanity.

In response, Aro, unwilling to admit defeat, devised the perfect solution. Using a method that only he and Artemis knew the full details of, he crafted a ring of vampire venom, crystallized under extreme heat and pressure into a slender band that, when worn, would diffuse venom into the body of the wearer, changing them, if only temporarily. The wearer would assume all properties of the vampire-cold, firm skin, mind-blowing strength and speed, extreme beauty, and immortality, but also retain a few human characteristics, such as blood (which would become venomous) that flowed through the body (without a heartbeat...a medical mystery that Carlisle is still wrestling with). The wearer would cease to age after the gradual change was complete, and if they were to take off the ring, they would gradually change back, aging faster and faster as the venom was worked out of their system, finally returning to their "true" age when the venom was entirely gone. Artemis was finally convinced by this idea of having a choice and decided to take Aro up on his offer. Thus was born the mythical goddess, the most beautiful and talented huntress, the Immortal Human.

Artemis lived under many names following that, shaking off her identity as "Artemis" in the goddess sense as Greek society began a downhill slide. She once shared a bed with Caesar in Rome, and later with Henry VIII in England. She worked in secrecy, but really never left the public eye. Her favorite pastime became intervening in the affairs of others, working her way into power with stunning beauty and knowledge that surpassed that of anyone of her time. Frozen eternally at twenty-three years old, she became an expert at faking her own death and disappearing back into secrecy for decades at a time. Occasionally she would fall into the succubus lifestyle, seducing attractive men and then draining them, but, relatively speaking, was fairly moral as far as early vampires go. She met Carlisle in 1707 and forged a lasting friendship, though she failed to adopt the vegetarian lifestyle when he first broached the subject with her.

According to Artemis, it was sometime around 1901 when she first began considering removing the ring and regressing back into human form gradually enough to have time to live a "normal" life. She knew, of course, that doing so would eventually bring her death, but after watching centuries of death and destruction, she had become fairly comfortable with the concept. Almost 3000 years of killing had also desensitized her towards the fact that, if there was a hell, she was going directly there. While she put on an outward portrayal of complete confidence and serenity in her situation, she knew as well as the rest of us that we were damned. The difference between us was that she would burn in hell, while we would burn in our own sin, still immortally rooted to the mortal world.

It was in 1942 that she first brought up the subject with Carlisle. They determined that by removing the ring for strategic periods of time, she would be able to physically age at approximately the rate of a normal human being, and, if she managed to "detoxify" enough, perhaps even bear children.

The plan was put into action in in 1953. She assumed the alias of Adelle Carmichael, complete with all necessary documents, and staged a marriage to Carlisle, already an established doctor in Chicago, as a means to reintroduce herself to society. They stayed together for just over a year before he left her, needing to move on to a new city anyways. Still, before he left, he managed to convert her to vegetarianism, which would at least help her cope with extended exposure to humans. I'm not entirely sure about what she did in the few years after Carlisle left, but I do know that, in the year 1962, she slept with her final world leader-John F. Kennedy.

In 1964, she married David Thomas, an attractive intellectual just out of Stanford. They settled into a simple life together in San Francisco, where David worked as an account manager at an advertising agency and Artemis-Adelle-played the part of happy housewife.

During the early years of her marriage, Artemis was in almost constant contact with Carlisle. She wanted to try to start a family with David, and had to carefully plan out her time without the ring. When she finally did conceive, Carlisle warned her not to complete the change fully back into vampire form. Since she had to go without the ring for weeks at a time, she aged significantly during that time. She convinced Carlisle to "diagnose" her with cancer just to have an excuse for the fine lines that were beginning to crawl across her face.

Miraculously, though, she carried Renee to term. For just over a year, she, David, and Renee were a happy family, even though Artemis was living a secret life. Then, in late November of 1970, she slipped. She never disclosed the details of what had happened, but Renee had been at David's parents' house, and in a lapse of control, Artemis killed David. It had been so long since she'd tasted human blood that once she started drinking from him, she wasn't even aware of what she was doing until the high of his blood dancing in her veins wore off. She had called Carlisle in a panic, hysterical with her own disgust and horror at what she had done. Carlisle faked an autopsy, citing a heart attack due to a previously unnoticed heart deformity as the cause of death. Following the funeral, Artemis disappeared for almost two months, but came back with a purpose. She wasn't going to allow her own nature destroy Renee's hope for a normal future. She did everything she possibly could for her daughter by day, fed religiously every night, and, in the process, formed an uncommonly strong bond with the only child she'd ever loved.

When Renee left home, things got easier for Artemis. I myself fell out of touch with her, but she and Alice struck up an immediate friendship that only continued to grow with time. For the past couple of years, the main sticking point between the two had been Artemis's continued aging. Alice was never one for saying goodbye, and felt that if there was a choice of whether or not to stay, one should _always _stay.

In the end, however, it was Artemis's own decision. I won't even begin to speculate about what finally prompted her to shift all the way back into her 3000 year old human body, but she did it. Of course, as soon as she had decided to, Alice knew, but she had refrained from telling Esme and Carlisle, opting to wait until we returned from California.

I was sad to lose Artemis. She had been a presence throughout my un-life, always with wise input to any discussion I could ever think to start. She had seen so much, done so much, that one couldn't help but respect her. If Carlisle and Esme were my parents, she was definitely my grandmother. As much as we try to distance ourselves from feeling pain at losses that are inevitable, I had to admit it...I was going to miss Artemis.

I listened in to see how it was going for Alice.

"_Well, we're different. We...we feed off of animals? Like, we hunt animals, not people. I mean, not all of us are like that, but my family is. Vegetarian, kind of." Alice laughed nervously. She was never nervous._

_Bella sniffed loudly. She was crying. "So...you're trying to t-tell me that I'm going to become like you and I can't do anything about it? That...that's not right. It can't be right. I'm going insane." _

"_No, you're not. Bella, this is a lot to take in. I'm not forcing you into this. You can say no at any time. But, since you've already begun the change, it would be unwise to stop now. I'm asking you to come to Washington with us so that you complete the change without putting yourself or anyone else at risk. Once it's done, we can reverse it, but really...I know how crazy this all must sound...it's for your own safety, Bella." _

I almost wanted to go in, just to see how the both of them were handling this...I heard something fall, and then a cry of pain.

"_Bella!" Alice yelled. "Bella, I'm taking you out to the car." _

Alice began running down the stairs, holding Bella safely in her arms. I got out of the car and opened the back door just as Alice came bursting out of the house.

"Alice..." I questioned. She didn't look at me.

"Renee's not coming back, Edward. Not for a while at least. We've got enough time. Phil is insisting she let him take her to Japan for a while...he's got an apartment there and wants her to "unwind". She's going to agree and be gone for at least a couple of weeks. It's okay. Just get in the car and get us the hell home. Her eyes are already turning."  
>I saw Alice's mental image of impossibly dark brown eyes being struck through with the deep emerald green that Artemis's had always been. The change was beginning. I pulled quickly out of the parking spot in front of the house and gunned the Volvo back towards the highway. I didn't realize what was strange until Gallagher House was long behind us.<p>

"Alice...I...I can't hear her. I can't hear her."

"You mean, like..."

"Yeah. She's completely quiet...it's...surprising."

"Well, you also haven't taken a breath since she got in the car. I don't know what that's about, but it's kinda freaking me out. You okay?"

I hadn't consciously noticed either. There was something strange about that sleeping form of a girl, huddled in the backseat. She was making me tense. Suddenly, I became aware of how tightly I was gripping the steering wheel and made a determined effort to relax. I drew in a deep breath...and slammed on the breaks, roughly steering the car to the side of the street, nearly doubled over in pain.

"Oh God, Alice! Ahhhggh!" I tore off my seat belt and threw open the door, stumbling out into the fairly busy street. I hobbled over to the sidewalk where Alice grabbed my shoulders, shaking me out of my inferno.

"Edward? EDWARD!"  
>"I'm-I'm burning, Alice...I have to have her. Just let me have her." I drank in another lungful of her scent, drunk on the delicious aroma. Oh, to feel <em>that <em>inside me...I would be satiated for a thousand years...All it would take would just be a little bite, she'd barely even know what was happening...It would be so easy, like cutting warm butter with a steak knife...to feel that liquid bliss sluicing down my throat, filling long-empty veins...I would feel like God. I would _be _God...

"Alice...Alice, please..."

"Edward, NO!" She groaned with the effort of holding me back as I fought to reach the source of that scent that, before then, I would have thought to be beyond impossible to create. Using what I assumed was all of her strength, Alice clutched my face and pulled it level with hers, looking me directly in the eyes. "Edward, listen to me. You're better than this. Walk away. She's going to be alright, and I'm not going to let you hurt her. Walk. Away." _No fucking way, _I thought. _She's mine._ Alice's eyes were cold and hard, daring me to move another inch towards the car. They were unforgiving and firm, but beckoned me away from the edge. I managed to recall some of my control by focusing only on the deep amber color of Alice's eyes before falling to the pavement in a heap, entirely exhausted from the effort I had just put in to _not _killing the one person that I wanted to drink more than anyone or anything I'd encountered since my change. As I sat there, Alice left my side. I barely registered the sound of the Volvo speeding away. I didn't acknowledge the pedestrians who walked past me, their thoughts wondering why someone would choose _that _spot to lie prostrate...

After what may have been minutes or hours, I pulled myself up off the sidewalk, brushed off my coat, and called Carlisle's cell phone. He didn't answer, so I sent him a text.

_Do not, under any circumstances, let me back in the house before the change is complete._

**...**

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**~Zell**


	3. Thirst

**Hey lovlies...I've been getting very few (one, at the time this was written...) reviews. I'd like to know that people are actually reading this and are interested in what I have to say. If you aren't why am I even writing this? So, as a favor to me, I'd love it if you could just post your thoughts at the end of this. Thanks! "A well rounded review is the best gift a reader can give to an author"**

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**Enjoy!**

…**...**

BPOV-

Grey lights blossomed across the blackness of my vision, soft and fleeting. Over time, other blooms of light were added in, all muted pastels. I thought for a moment that perhaps this is what it felt like to drown, everything seeming far away and unreachable. The colors pulsed and faded, moving in unpredictable patterns across my field of vision. I couldn't hear anything at first, but as the colors became more vibrant and defined, I began to hear soft talking around me. Still, like the colors, it was distant and incomprehensible.

I drifted around in that state of semi-consciousness for some undefined period of time before suddenly becoming entirely alert. It was as if I _had _been drowning, but had then been swiftly pulled from the water and dropped back in the world of the living.

Sounds were impeccably clear around me. I heard every rustle of the sheets I was ensconced in as I breathed, every tick of the grandfather clock down the hall, every breath drawn by those around me. Those around me...?

Where was I? My eyes flew open and my mind was flooded with a barrage of input, struggling to take in the vibrancy and clarity of everything that I saw. Every detail of the space around me was suddenly visible, no longer hidden by their own minuscule size. Every color was hyper-saturated. Every tiny sound was clearly heard. There was so much to take in, so much information to process. I felt overwhelmed by the strangeness of it all. Was it possible that I was on drugs? That somehow I'd ended up at a party and made some...poor...choices? _Must have been some __**very **__bad choices, _I thought. My newly-talented eyes scanned the room, taking in the sharp focus and bright colors of my surroundings.

And suddenly, I was aware of the fact that there were people in the room. A sharp-looking young man, a kind-looking woman, one girl that I recognized (what was her name...Alyssa?...Anne?), and a hulking mass of a man that I didn't. They circled around me, all with half-concerned, half-loving expressions emblazoned on their faces.

"She's _gorgeous_," the first woman sighed.

"I told you she would be!" the other said. ALICE! Alice was her name. But...where did I know her from?

"Does this mean Edward can come back?" the larger of the two men asked. "Because, really, it was pretty nice without him moping around for the past couple of weeks." Alice slapped him on the arm. _Edward_, I thought. I knew him too. But _how_?

"Bella?" the first man asked, "How are you feeling?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but it wasn't my voice that came out. Instead, it sounded like music and confidence and laughter, all at once. "Where am I?"

"Carlisle, maybe we should sit her up," Alice said. I agreed. The man she had addressed as Carlisle and the other woman helped me push myself into a sitting position against the headboard of the luxurious bed I'd been lying in. As I moved, every muscle in my body seemed to cry out in protest.

"Who are you people? And why am I so sore?" I asked. Carlisle looked at me almost sympathetically.

"Bella, we're in Forks, Washington. Alice brought you here after finding you in San Francisco. Do you remember-"

And then it all came crashing back to me. Alice. Edward. My grandmother. A ring. Vampires. Change. _No no no no no! _my mind screamed. _Not possible. I dreamed that. It was my imagination. God, let it have been my imagination. _Logically, though, I knew that the dream theory made no sense. How else (besides acid...) could my newfound sensitivity to my surroundings be explained?

Internally, I was awash in panic, but my voice came out clear and calm. "I've Changed, haven't I?" Carlisle nodded. "I'm...I'm like Alice now, right?"

"Like all of us," the other woman said.

"So, you're..."  
>"Alice's family," Carlisle finished. "Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and, of course, Alice." He pointed to each of them in turn. "Edward, Jasper, and Rosalie are out at the moment, I'm afraid."<p>

I looked around at them in awe. All four of them were flawless, perfect specimens of human beauty. Or, vampire beauty, I guess. I found myself feeling incredibly inferior. "Is that why I can hear everything? And why everything looks so clear? Because I'm like you?"

Carlisle nodded again. "The body undergoes significant change during the transformation. I think you'll find that all of your senses are heightened and you are exponentially stronger and faster. Also, there are distinct changes to one's appearance after the change..." Suddenly I wanted a mirror, just to ensure I hadn't developed into some kind of deformed monster. I remembered, though, Esme's comment as she had entered the room..._"Gorgeous." _If she, who could easily have been the most stunning woman I'd ever seen, thought I was beautiful, then I could probably at least be certain that I hadn't sprouted a third eye or something equally off-putting.

"Super-strength and Olympic speed...doesn't sound too bad," I said. Really, it didn't Suddenly, I wondered what had made me panic so gratuitously when Alice approached me. You'd think that of all people, I'd covet becoming a model-gorgeous super-...person. Probably the non-human part, I guess...

"Glad you think so," Esme smiled.

Emmett spoke for the first time. "And, just to be clear, we'd beat any Olympian's ass. At anything."

I heard myself laughing. Why was I being so calm and non-chalant about this? Alice had explained it to me...I was literally _no longer human_. Shouldn't that freak me out? And yet here I was, entertaining fantasies of winning Olympic gold medals and being able to eavesdrop on anyone I felt like. Honestly, it didn't seem too bad. I looked around at the four pairs of beautiful amber eyes, all trained on me. _They _certainly seemed happy. I found myself wanting to try this "change" thing out. What would it feel like to be drop-dead gorgeous? To be the _best _at something. To...to live forever. I wondered all these things, and more, all within a hundreth of a second. I became aware of how fast my brain was processing information. _Jeez,_ I thought, _with brains like this and a hundred years under their belt, these people must all be geniuses._ I concluded then that yes, I would give the change a shot. And, simultaneously, I found myself thirsty. _Very _thirsty.

"Umm, would it be possible to get some water, maybe?" I was met with strangely confused stares. "I'm just really thirsty all of a sudden," I added, trying to clarify. Instead, they all looked more panicked.

Emmett turned to Alice. "You didn't tell her? How could you have NOT TOLD HER?"

"I told her, Emm-"

Carlisle motioned for them to be quiet. "I'm sure she told her, Emmett. Bella, do you remember what Alice said?"

I scanned my memory, replaying Alice's visit to Gallagher house in my head. Artemis, ring, strenght, eternity, vampire. Oh.

Vampire.

Blood.

Shit.

…**...**

**Well, that went **_**slightly **_**better than I would have anticipated. :)**

**I'm not going to be able to update as quickly during the week as I've been able to this weekend. That being said, I think I'll post a teaser of what I have in store for the next chapter (Mwahaha...) in a little bit and then replace it when the full chapter is ready.**

**Again, I would love you madly if you'd review what I have so far! Thanks!**

**~Zell 3**


	4. Sin Teaser

**As promised, the teaser for the real fourth chapter, Sin.**

**SM owns Twilight and all its characters. I own an HTC EVO. SM wins again.**

…**...**

EPOV-

"They're on their way back," Esme called. I finished the Moonlight Sonata with a clanging, crashing chord, not at all how Beethoven had intended. Just the thought of her blood made my mind reel, called out the monster that I typically held so deep inside myself.

I pushed back from the piano as I heard the basement door slide open. Not surprisingly, Alice and Bella were laughing and speaking excitedly. Alice had a way about making friends that confounded me to this day. They made their way up the stairs, and I tried to distract myself from the addictive scent that drifted towards me by rearranging my already meticulously-organized sheet music. The two girls had reached the top of the stairs. I could feel Bella's eyes on my back.

"Edward, Bella. Bella, Edward. I don't believe you two have formally met," Alice said. I spun around to face them, not wanting to come off as a _complete _ass.

My amber eyes met her emerald ones. I saw the enticing pulse of her blood just beneath the creamy surface of her neck. I saw the defined lines of her cheekbones, her full lips, her dark, luscious curls, her delicate curves. I could smell only the overwhelming bliss of her blood. Feel only the need to be close to her.

Jasper coughed loudly from his seat by the fireplace. I looked towards him and his eyes knowingly met mine. If I could have thrown something at him without looking completely insane, I would have.

He knew what I was feeling, probably better than myself. That was because, until this moment, I'd had little to no experience with all-consuming, jaw-dropping, mind-crippling lust.

…**...**

**Mmmm...Perhaps some stories of the citrus variety coming up? You'll just have to wait and see ;)**

**Predict/review please! **

**~Zell**

**PS: I'm now on twitter Zellaprell. Follow me for story updates!**


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